The evolution of the “Bad-Ass” run streak


Day 148 of running and counting....
                 

How did this streak start, you ask?

 One of the local running stores Capra  does a challenge every November – run 30 minutes every day for November - https://www.capra.run/pages/the-november-30x30 -  initially I thought about it and said no.  I was starting to train for my Ironman distance race in Spain for June 2019 and I have always believed that if I run more than  4x a week I will get an injury so it was going to be a hard pass.  However my brother-in-law had been running every day for over a year and seemed none the worse for it and well it was only 30 minutes each day.  So I thought well let’s give it a try and see how it goes plus there was PRIZES and not for how far or fast just for running and I LOVE prizes.  

My streak actually started the streak on October 31st because the club I run with  https://www.facebook.com/NorthBurnabyRunners/ runs Wednesday nights and October 31, 2018 was a Wednesday.  Since everything is more fun if you talk your friends into it – I convinced a couple of gal pals – Anne and Judith as well as my husband, Joe,  to sign up.  I felt like that way I would be held even more accountable besides having to register all my runs with the store. 

For the first couple of weeks I will admit my legs felt a little heavy but I continued on motivated by the fact that there were daily prizes and if I did not log my run in then I would not be eligible for the daily or grand prizes.  As the month evolved my legs stopped feeling so heavy and the runs seemed to get a little easier.  The next thing I knew it was the end of November – I was feeling ok and had no injuries – so I guess my 18 year belief that I could not run more than 4x a week  or I would get injured - was now no longer true.  Plus I had dropped close to 15 lbs. 

Well December 1st hit and I got up and I thought might as well go for a run, so I did.  During that run I started to ponder-I wonder how long I can streak?  My brother-in-law at that time was over 400 days straight and I thought might as well see what I can do. 

Well we are now at 148 days of running and I am happy to say no injuries.  Everyone keeps asking why and when will you stop and I say because and I don’t know.  Without going into too much, some things have happened that have shaken my foundation and life -  I am trying to come to terms with everything, what I want  my new reality  to be,  and to figure out how I grow and move forward in a good way.  The running has been one of the things that has helped me to stay grounded and try to move forward.   It gives me a purpose and a goal each day and helps me to center myself and work through all my thoughts and feelings when it all seems so unfair and too much. 

Other benefits are that I am running paces I have not run since before 2008 and while not my intention or the reason I started any of this another happy side effect is I down to the size I was when I was  in my early 20’s.

How long will I streak?  I really don’t know, for now I have no intention of stopping anytime soon and as long as I remain uninjured and don’t get sick I am going to continue because I can and I really need to.  I am toying with a year -  I mean it is only 30 minutes a day – and while I do run longer on Wednesdays and Saturdays the other days I stay at 30 minutes and just try to go a little bit farther in that time each day.

Thanks for reading


Peace out Shaun


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